This invention relates to an equipment operation panel, and more particularly to an equipment operation panel which includes an operation signal generation electric component for feeding an operation signal to a control unit received in an equipment such as a room heater, an electric appliance or the like and is mounted on a casing of the equipment.
An equipment such as an oil room heater, a gas room heater or the like includes an operation section provided with electric parts or components such as a switch and a variable resistor for driving the heater, a luminous display means for displaying an operation state of the equipment, and the like. A conventional equipment operation panel for such an operation section includes a rigid circuit board which is made of bakelite, epoxy resin or the like and on which the electronic components are mounted. The circuit board is then supported on a frame made of a synthetic resin material. The frame having the circuit board supported thereon is then fixedly mounted on a casing of the equipment in such a manner that the electric components and luminous display means which are required to be externally operated are positioned in an opening of the casing. The opening of the casing is closed with a cover member having a character, a mark or the like printed on a surface thereof and including a light-permeable section which permits light emitted from the luminous display means to permeate therethrough. Also, the cover member is so formed that a portion thereof corresponding to the switch and the like which are required to be externally operated exhibits flexibility.
In the conventional equipment operation panel, as noted from the above, it is required to form the opening of the casing of the equipment into an increased size. This renders a design for the casing troublesome and causes a location on the casing at which the equipment operation panel is to be mounted to be subject to restriction. Also, the conventional equipment operation panel renders mounting of the panel on the casing of the equipment highly troublesome.
In general, a heater such as an oil room heater or the like is constructed so as to selectively adjust combustion to a desired combustion level between a minimum combustion level and a maximum one by manual operation. For such adjustment, a variable resistor of the slide type has been conventionally used. The conventional slide type variable resistor is constructed so as to mechanically slide a slider. Unfortunately, such construction of the variable resistor fails to permit a thickness of the equipment operation panel to be satisfactorily reduced. Thus, it is obliged to receive a part of the equipment operation panel in the casing.